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Doña Ana County Nears End of Comprehensive Plan And Unified Development Code

http://youtu.be/94DG4UcSaws

Doña Ana County is moving into the final phase of their Comprehensive Plan and Unified Development Code as part of the Viva Doña Ana Initiative. Samantha Sonner has more on the last round of public input meetings.

Doña Ana County Community Development Director Daniel Hortert says the Comprehensive Plan and Unified Development Code are meant to help simplify the county’s plan for growth.

“It combines the subdivisions, zoning, and design standards into one document,” Hortert said. “So that its easy to follow. You know right now we have multiple documents that people have to go through and learn and try to understand, and what this does it not only brings it under one cover but it also shows the connections between the different ordinances that we already have.”

He says the plan will be able to change as the community changes.

“These documents are living documents,” Hortert said. “They’re intended to be changed, they’re intended to be updated based on market conditions, or housing conditions. These are living documents. We are not going to let them sit on a shelf and collect dust. They’re meant to be changed as needed, and we expect them to be changed within the first year or so.”

He says they are at the end of the over 3-year process and have used public comment to develop the plan. Jerry Pacheco, a Santa Teresa Resident works with the Border Industrial Association, he says for continued growth they need to work with county officials.

“That’s where all the development is occurring,” Pacheco said. “And that’s where is occurring, it’s spurring all the other stuff. So we need to make sure that we are working with the County and with all the other stakeholder’s and communicating where we plan to go with our development and make sure we are all on the same page going forward. So, the whole planning process is a very important thing to undergo, and that’s why where here.”

Doña Ana County Commissioner David Garcia says having a plan helps growth occur.

“Sometimes we don’t plan for that,” Garcia said. “Because the growth will before you know it, you open your eyes and you have several thousand people. How do you provide for water, roads, and transportation, and services? And that is important, to kind of foresee into the future, so that you’re prepared for it.”

He says it’s important for the public to be involved in the process. Jerry Pacheco says the public meetings have been helpful.

“We found a couple of glitches on a map in terms of zoning,” Pacheco said. “So, in that sense coming tonight was worth opening up the dialogue with the county officials, and we are planning a meeting going forward here. But we will have to see, I’ve got to dig through the plan a little better I kind of skimmed through it, but we’re going to see how that affects us.”
Hortert says getting that information from the public has been very helpful.

“We’ve absolutely listened to them,” Hortert said. “And we’ll continue to listen to them because this is all our county. Not just mine, not just yours. And it’s important to see that we go in unison.”

If you are unable to attend the last round of public meetings, you can view and comment on the plan at vivadoñaana.org.

The final two public comment meeting will be held Wednesday night at 6:30 at the Village of Hatch Community Center, and Thursday night at 6:30 at the Doña Ana County Government Center.

Samantha Sonner was a multimedia reporter for KRWG- TV/FM.